Bath Stone
Encyclopedia
Bath Stone is an Oolitic
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...

 Limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...

. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines is a 6.22 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1991 because of the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bat population....

 under Combe Down
Combe Down
Combe Down is a village suburb of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down sits on a ridge above and about 1.5 miles to the south of Bath city centre. "Combe" or "coombe" is a West Country word meaning a steep-sided...

, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 its distinctive appearance. An important feature of Bath Stone is that it is a freestone, that is one that can be sawn or 'squared up' in any direction, unlike other rocks such as slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

, which forms distinct layers.

Bath Stone has been used extensively as a building material throughout southern England for churches, houses and public buildings such as railway stations.

Some of the quarries from which the stone was taken are still in use; however the majority have been converted to other purposes or are being filled in.

Geological formation

During the Jurassic Period (195 to 135 million years ago) the region that is now Bath was under a shallow sea. Layers of Marine sediment built and individual spherical grains were coated with lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...

 as they rolled around the sea bed forming the Bathonian Series
Bathonian Series
Bathonian Series refers to a series of rock strata dating from the Bathonian epoch of the Middle Jurassic.The typical Bathonian Series is the Great Oolite series of England, and the name was derived from the "Bath Oolite", extensively mined and quarried in the vicinity of that city, where the...

 of rocks. Under the microscope, these grains or ooliths (egg stone) are sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....

 formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 word òoion for egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

. Strictly, oolite
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...

s consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm: rocks
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...

 composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolite
Pisolite
A pisolite is a sedimentary rock made of pisoids, which are concretionary grains - often of calcium carbonate, but sometimes of rarer minerals - which resemble ooids but are always more than 2 mm in diameter. These grains are approximately spherical and have concentric layers reaching...

s. They frequently contain minute fragments of shell or rock and sometimes even decayed skeletons of marine life.

Use as a building stone

It was extensively used in the Roman and Medieval periods on domestic, ecclesiastical and civil engineering projects such as bridges.

Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. He was baptised at St Columb Major, Cornwall on 24 July 1693. As a teenager he worked at the Post Office. He moved in 1710 to Bath, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age...

 promoted its use in Bath in the early 18th century, including his own mansion at Prior Park
Prior Park
Prior Park is a Palladian house, designed by John Wood, the Elder in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen, on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....

, but it was used long before then. Example include religious, residential and industrial buildings. The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases
The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS hospital trust of the National Health Service in England. It is a small, specialist Trust in the centre of Bath....

, which was founded in 1738 was designed by John Wood the Elder was built with Bath stone donated by Ralph Allen. It is a Grade II listed building. There is a fine pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

, in Bath stone, on the building depicting the parable of the good Samaritan.

St Stephens church
St. Stephen's Church, Bath
St Stephen's Church is a church in Bath, Somerset England.Designed to serve the spiritual needs of northeast Bath by James Wilson and built between 1840-1845, from Bath Stone, a limestone sourced from the Limpley Stoke mine which is situated in the Limpley Stoke Valley.St Stephen's Church on...

 situated on Lansdown Hill in Bath was constructed from a limestone sourced from the Limpley Stoke
Limpley Stoke
Limpley Stoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, in the Avon Valley, between Bath and Freshford. The village is below the A36 road.The civil parish, which had a population of 637 in 2001, also includes the hamlet of Waterhouse, and the outskirts of the Somerset village of Midford. The 18th...

 mine which is situated in the Limpley Stoke Valley. It has recently been restored.
The material has also been used widely outside Bath itself. Claverton Pumping Station
Claverton Pumping Station
Claverton Pumping Station in the village of Claverton, in the English county of Somerset, pumps water from the River Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal using power from the flow of the River Avon. It is a grade II listed building....

 at Claverton
Claverton, Somerset
Claverton is a small village and civil parish about east of Bath at the southern end of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Somerset, England...

 which was built of Bath Stone around 1810, pumps water from the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...

 to the Kennet and Avon Canal
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...

 using power from the flow of the River Avon. The stone was also used for the Dundas Aqueduct
Dundas Aqueduct
Dundas Aqueduct carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon and the Wessex Main Line railway from Bath to Westbury, near Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, England....

, which is 150 yards (137.2 m) long with three arches built of Bath Stone, with Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...

 pilasters, and balustrades at each end.

Much of Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England, and is commonly known as Bristol Cathedral...

 was built of Bath Stone and the Wills Tower, which is the dominant feature of the Wills Memorial Building
Wills Memorial Building
The Wills Memorial Building is a Neo Gothic building designed by Sir George Oatley and built as a memorial to Henry Overton Wills III...

, is reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

 faced with Bath and Clipsham stone. Bristol's Cabot Tower
Cabot Tower (Bristol)
Cabot Tower is a tower in Bristol, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill, between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells. It was constructed in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in the Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. The foundation...

 was also faced with Bath Stone. Arno's Court Triumphal Arch
Arno's Court Triumphal Arch
Arno's Court Triumphal Arch is in Junction Rd, Brislington, Bristol, England.- Construction :The arch was built around 1760 by James Bridges, for William Reeve, a prominent local Quaker and business man. It is built from Bath stone, of classical proportions but with Gothic and Moorish detail...

 was built from Bath stone around 1760 and later dismantled before being moved to its current location and rebuilt.

Bath Stone was also favoured by architect Hans Price
Hans Price
Hans Price was the architect responsible for much of the development of Weston-super-Mare, in North Somerset, England, during the Victorian era.-Life:Hans Fowler Price was born in Langford, Somerset. He studied under Thomas Barry in Liverpool...

 who designed much of 19th century Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...

.

In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 the neo-classical Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 mansion Lancaster House
Lancaster House
Lancaster House is a mansion in the St. James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St. James's Palace and much of the site was once part of the palace complex...

 was built from Bath Stone in 1825 for the Duke of York and Albany
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
The Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany was a member of the Hanoverian and British Royal Family, the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III...

, the second son of King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

. The brick of Apsley House
Apsley House
Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, is the former London residence of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing south towards the busy traffic interchange and Wellington Arch...

 was fronted with Bath Stone, and several churches including Church of Christ the King, Bloomsbury
Church of Christ the King, Bloomsbury
The Church of Christ the King is a church belonging to the Catholic Apostolic Church which is situated in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, beside Dr Williams's Library and near University College London. The church is currently used by the Anglican organisation Forward in Faith...

 were built from the material. Apsley House, town house of the Dukes of Wellington, was remodelled in Bath Stone by the 1st Duke; this is still visible today. In Barnstable
Barnstaple
Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...

 the 1855 construction of Butchers Row used Bath Stone.
In Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 the original building Royal Berkshire Hospital
Royal Berkshire Hospital
The Royal Berkshire Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It provides acute hospital services to the residents of the western and central portions of Berkshire, and is managed by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.The...

 of 1839, together with the wings added in the 1860s, are now listed grade II* by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

. They are built of Bath Stone with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 roofs, and the main building comprises 2 storeys and a basement. The frontage has 11 bays, with the central 7 bays forming a projecting pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

ed hexastyle portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

 with Ionic columns
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

. In 1860 the nearby Reading railway station
Reading railway station
Reading railway station is a major rail transport hub in the English town of Reading. It is situated on the northern edge of the town centre, close to the main retail and commercial areas, and also the River Thames...

 building, in Bath Stone and incorporating a tower and clock, was constructed for the Great Western Railway, who also used it for Chippenham railway station
Chippenham railway station
Chippenham railway station serves the market town of Chippenham in Wiltshire, England. The station is on the Great Western Main Line, in between and , and is served by First Great Western main line services between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington, and a smaller First Great Western local...

.

Other mansions which have used Bath Stone include: Gatcombe Park
Gatcombe Park
Gatcombe Park is the private country home of Anne, Princess Royal, situated in England between the Gloucestershire villages of Minchinhampton and Avening, five miles south of Stroud and around six miles north of Highgrove House, the country residence of Prince Charles.The house and farming estate...

, Goldney Hall
Goldney Hall
Goldney Hall also known as Goldney House is a self-catered hall of residence in Clifton, Bristol, one of three in the area providing accommodation for students at the University of Bristol.-House:...

, Tyntesfield
Tyntesfield
Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England, near Nailsea, seven miles from Bristol.The house was acquired by the National Trust in June 2002 after a fund raising campaign to prevent it being sold to private interests and ensure it be opened to the public...

, South Hill Park
South Hill Park
South Hill Park is a site that lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire, England.-History:The original South Hill Park mansion was built in 1760 for William Watts for his retirement from service as a senior official of the Bengal Government...

, Spetchley Park
Spetchley Park
Spetchley Park in the hamlet of Spetchley, near Worcester, England, has belonged to the Berkeley family, who also own Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, since it was first built in 1606....

.

In 2002 the East End of Truro Cathedral
Truro Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Truro is an Anglican cathedral located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It was built in the Gothic Revival architectural style fashionable during much of the nineteenth century, and is one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom...

 was completely renovated and restored with some of the ornate Bath stone replaced with harder wearing Syerford stone. In 2005 the West Front was restored similarly. Both projects were supervised by MRDA Architects of London, the Cathedral architects.

Quarries

Bath Stone was mined underground at Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines is a 6.22 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1991 because of the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bat population....

, in Somerset; and as a result of cutting the Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...

, at various locations in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, including Box
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....

 and Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....

.

Underground extraction of Bath Stone continues in the Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....

 area but on a smaller scale than previously. For example, Hanson plc
Hanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...

 operates Hartham Park Quarry in the Hudswell district (southwest of Pickwick) and the Bath Stone Group operate the Stoke Hill mine. Other quarries have been re-used. Current examples include primarily defence establishments, but also a wine cellar
Wine cellar
A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not...

 at Eastlays (near Gastard
Gastard
Gastard is a village in Wiltshire, England, four miles south west of Chippenham, part of the civil parish of the nearby town of Corsham.The village has a pub called the Harp and Crown.-History and church:...

) and storage for magnetic media (for Off-site Data Protection
Off-site Data Protection
In computing, off-site data protection, or vaulting, is the strategy of sending critical data out of the main location as part of a disaster recovery plan. Data is usually transported off-site using removable storage media such as magnetic tape or optical storage...

) at Monk's Park (near Neston).

Non-quarrying re-use of quarries

During the 1930s there was a recognition of a need to provide secure storage for munitions in the south of the United Kingdom, a large area of the quarries around the Corsham area was renovated by the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 as one of three major munitions stockpiles. This ammunition depot was serviced by a spur railway line from the main London to Bristol line, breaking away just outside the eastern entrance to Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...

. A portion of the underground quarry complex was developed as a 'shadow factory' for aircraft engines, to act as a fallback should the Bristol Engine company
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines...

 Factory at Filton
Filton
Filton is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Bristol, about from the city centre. Filton lies in Bristol postcode areas BS7 and BS34. The town centres upon Filton Church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a grade II listed building...

 be taken out of action by hostile bombing. In practice this factory was never used. Another area of the quarry Royal Air Force Box was established as the Headquarters of No10 Fighter Group
No. 10 Group RAF
No. 10 Group of the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 April 1918 in No. 2 Area. On 8 May of the next year it was transferred to South-Western Area. In 1919 it was transferred to Coastal Area where it remained until it was disbanded on 18 January 1932....

, Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

. RAF Box was later renamed RAF Rudloe Manor
RAF Rudloe Manor
RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station located north-east of Bath, United Kingdom between the towns of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire...

 and expanded to encompass a number of communications functions including No1 Signal Unit, Controller Defence Communications Network, No1001 Signal Unit Detachment and Headquarters RAF Provost & Security Service. No1SU and CDCN were both housed in bunkers within the quarry complex, which also included an RAF Regional Command Centre for the South West of England. Corsham Computer Centre
Corsham Computer Centre
Corsham Computer Centre is an underground British Ministry of Defence installation in Corsham, Wiltshire, built in the 1980s. According to the MoD, the centre "processes data in support of the Royal Navy"...

 was built into Hudswell Quarry during the 1980s.

British defence doctrine during the early Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 period indicated a requirement for a fallback location for central government
Central Government War Headquarters
The Central Government War Headquarters is a complex built underground as the United Kingdom's Emergency Government War Headquarters - the hub of the country's alternative seat of power outside London during a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union...

 outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, to assume national control in the event of London being destroyed. The quarry complex at Corsham was chosen for this location and development of the site commenced in the 1950s. In the event of imminent nuclear attack
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...

, it was assumed that the government would be evacuated from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 by rail or helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

. The facility would provide a safe haven for the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

, the Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....

, commanders of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, and British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and supporting civil servants and military personnel. Facilities inside the complex included accommodation and catering for nearly 4,000 people, including a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

, organic electrical generation and the ability to seal the complex from the outside environment, contaminated by radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...

 or other threat.

The defence facilities known as Hawthorn
Hawthorn, Wiltshire
Hawthorn is the location of a number of defence related underground facilities in the vicinity of Corsham, Wiltshire. Specifically the Hawthorn site was the location of an above-ground bunker used for the planning of satellite communications support to the United Kingdom's armed forces worldwide. ...

 and various code names like Stockwell, Turnstile and Burlington have been built in quarries include Military Command & Control, storage and a fallback seat of national government. Some areas of the quarry complex were hardened and provided with support measures to ensure resilience in the event of a nuclear attack. The site was decommissioned and placed in a state of care & maintenance in the mid 1990s following the fragmentation of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and the end of the cold war. The site has been offered for sale, conditional on a Private Finance Initiative
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...

 for the continued use of above ground facilities.

Box Mine

The Box Mine
Box Mine
Box Mine is a 56.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, near the village of Box in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1991.-Site description:...

 consists of a network of tunnels, which originate from stone mining work. Stone extraction started during the Roman occupation of Britain and ceased in 1968. The mine is now popular for recreational underground trips. It is home to a large population of bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

s. Up to 10% of the total British population of greater horseshoe bat
Greater Horseshoe Bat
The Greater Horseshoe Bat is a European bat of the Rhinolophus genus. Its distribution covers Europe, Africa, South Asia and Australia. It is the largest of the European Horseshoe Bats and is thus easily distinguished from other species...

 uses the mine at times; a maximum of 230 individuals of this species have been counted at the site. The Lesser Horseshoe Bat
Lesser horseshoe bat
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat , is a type of European bat related to but smaller than its cousin, the Greater Horseshoe Bat...

 also uses the mine, as do the four Myotis species - Whiskered
Whiskered bat
The whiskered bats Myotis mystacinus and related species, are small European bats with long fur. Although uncommon, M. mystacinus is often found around human habitation and around water; it is similar to Brandt's bat Myotis brandtii, from which it was distinguished as a separate species only in...

, Brandt's
Brandt's Bat
Brandt's Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It is found throughout most of Europe and parts of Asia.It is named for the German zoologist Johann Friedrich von Brandt.-Echolocation:...

, Natterer's
Natterer's bat
Natterer's bat is a European bat with pale wings. It has brown fur, also seen on the leg wing membrane, tending to white on its underside...

 and Daubenton's
Daubenton's bat
Daubenton's Bat, Myotis daubentonii, is a Eurasian bat with quite short ears. It ranges from Britain to Japan and is considered to be increasing its numbers in many areas.The name commemorates the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton....

 bats.

Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines

Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines is a 6.22 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1991 because of the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bat population....

 date from the 17th and 18th century when stone was extracted by the "room and pillar" method, by which chambers were mined, leaving pillars of stone between them to support the roof. The mine contains a range of mine features including well preserved tramways
Tramway (mineral)
Tramways are lightly laid railways, sometimes worked without locomotives. The term is in common use in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and elsewhere. In New Zealand, they are commonly known as bush tramways...

, cart-roads and crane bases. The walls and pillars of the mine are studded with pick
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...

 and tool marks and show evidence of the use of huge stone saws, all of which bear testimony to the variety of techniques used to extract the stone over the mine's three hundred year history. No mine abandonment plans of either the tunnels or the caverns, known as voids, were made prior to the 1872 Mining Act.

Following their closure were used for a variety of purposes, including a mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

 farm and as an Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...

 during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Baedeker raids on Bath. During 1989 a utilities contractor unexpectedly broke through into part of the mines complex whilst excavating a trench. This raised concerns locally, resulting in the then Bath City Council commissioning studies to survey the condition of the mines. It was clear that the mines were in a very unstable state and some experts considered them to be the largest shallowest and most unstable of their kind in Europe. Approximately 80% of the mines, which are up to 9 metres (30 ft) high and cover a total area of about 18 hectares (180,000 m²), had less than 6 metres (20 ft) cover and as little as 2 metres (7 ft) in some places.
In March 1999, the then Department of Environment, Transport and Regions
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions was a UK Cabinet position created in 1997, with responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions ....

 (DETR), now known as the Department for Communities and Local Government
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...

, announced a Land Stabilisation Programme, based on the Derelict Land Act 1982. A Parliamentary Statutory Instrument
Statutory Instrument
A Statutory Instrument is the principal form in which delegated or secondary legislation is made in Great Britain.Statutory Instruments are governed by the Statutory Instruments Act 1946. They replaced Statutory Rules and Orders, made under the Rules Publication Act 1893, in 1948.Most delegated...

 (2002 No. 2053) was needed before the work could be undertaken. Foamed concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

has been selected as the solution for the large scale infilling of the old mine works. It is planned that over 400000 cubic metres (523,180 cu yd) of foamed concrete will be placed in the shallow underground mines, making it the single largest application of foamed concrete on a project in the United Kingdom.
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